Sure-fire Tips on How to Make Black Food Coloring at Your Home

Nowadays, it is not difficult to get black food coloring from stores. You may also make it at home, with these tips.

Tastessence Staff

Last Updated: Mar 7, 2018

Use of food color has been dated back to the period of ancient Greeks and Romans. While, ancient people used various natural materials for coloring foods, now, artificial colors are widely used. During ancient times products like, turmeric, saffron, beets, grapes, carrots, etc., were used for natural food coloring.

Today, most of the food coloring part is done with artificial colors. Available in the form of powder as well as liquid, these artificial colors are used in cosmetics and drugs too. The sale of such colors is regulated by law, so as to ensure that they are safe for human consumption. You can find a wide array of food colors in stores. However, you may find it difficult to get black food color that is not commonly found. If you are in real need of this food color, continue reading this article that will provide you with some tips about making black food coloring at home.

Homemade Black Food Color

So, you are in need of black food color, but could not find one. Instead of spending your time in searching for this food color, why not try making it at home? Follow these tips and guidelines for preparing this food color.

First of all, you need some food colors in 'primary colors'. In other words, get a bottle each of red, green and blue food coloring.

Take an empty food color bottle and clean it thoroughly. Add three parts each of red and blue color with two parts of green (adjust the amount as per your requirement). Shake well and your black food color is ready.

You may also make a slight change in the food colors you mix. Take equal parts of red, blue and yellow food colors and combine them to form black food coloring.

If you are not interested in using food colors, you may go for other options, which include dark melted chocolate or dark cocoa.

If you are looking for black food coloring for sweet dishes like cakes and cookies, then, all you need to do is to mix chocolate frosting with blue food coloring.

For spicy, savory dishes, you may try squid ink as a replacement for black food coloring. This product can be a little expensive, but can be bought from food stores.

This is nothing but a simple application of some basic scientific concepts about colors. While, primary colors cannot be made by mixing other colors, secondary and tertiary colors can be prepared by mixing primary colors in the right way. So, black food coloring can be made using this concept. If you are interested, you may try making some unique food colors, using the same idea. However, make sure that the proportion is right, while mixing the colors. If you are not satisfied with the results, then try to purchase a black food color from the store. You may opt for the powder or liquid form, as per your requirement. Nowadays, food color pen is also available in the market.